I was under the impression that rules were created by the site owner and imposed by those he chose to act as moderators, is this no longer the case? I find this to be troubling -
https://en.numista.com/forum/topic71935.html
I'm fine with the actual content as suggestions or guidelines and if I believed that it was a sincere attempt to help, I'd be the first to applaud. But as a rule? I don't think so. A rule implies some kind of authority, other than the self claimed, and in the event of non compliance some kind of penalty. I don't believe I would remain very long on a website where such a person had any authority and in this I can assure you I'm far from alone.
It would be nice if we lived in a world where everyone spoke perfect English, knew exactly what information was needed to provide an attribution and bothered to read the "rules" before making an enquiry. But we don't.
These "rules" are nothing more than an exercise in self aggrandizement and are being used to justify the most obnoxious bullying the Numista forum has ever seen. Since when were terms such as "pricks" and "cretins" acceptable?
Is this how we embrace and nurture new or young collectors?
https://en.numista.com/forum/topic72804.html
https://en.numista.com/forum/topic72524.html
The above examples are not cherry picked to prove a point, they are merely two recent examples of the constant bullying and nastiness that ruined the free discussion forum and is now becoming common in the Coin ID forum. It has a single source. Whenever there are any kind of disruptions, trading insults or pointless arguments, it has a single source. Isn't it long past due to recognize that simply removing this single source would create a better, more informed, more friendly Numista?
I've always said that while Numista has it's problems it's greatest strength was it's friendly community which was largely free of the toxic egos of larger coin websites. The past 12 months have seen this turned completely on it's head.
The cause is as clear as the solution.